History - Carlist Wars

Carlist Wars

When Ferdinand VII died in 1833, his fourth wife Maria Cristina became Queen Regent on behalf of their infant daughter Isabella II. This divided the country into the Cristinos, liberal supporters of the Queen Regent and the Carlists, supporters of Carlos V, a pretender to the throne and brother of Ferdinand VII. There followed further wars of succession, called the Carlist Wars. The first Carlist war was 1833 to 1840 in most of the country. The second Carlist war was 1846 to 1849 and was an uprising in Catalunia and Galicia. The third Carlist war caused the deposition of Queen Isabela II in 1868, the abdication of Amadeo and the creationi of the First Republic. 

Isabela II  1833 - 1868

Isabella II (Spanish: Isabel; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until 1868. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognize a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, and formally abdicated in 1870. Her son Alfonso XII became king in 1874. | Wikipedia CC-BY-SA

Amadeo 1870 - 1873

Amadeo I (Italian: Amedeo, sometimes anglicized as Amadeus; 30 May 1845 - 18 January 1890) was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy. He was the second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and was known for most of his life as the Duke of Aosta, but he reigned briefly as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873.  He was elected by the Cortes as Spain's monarch in 1870, following the deposition of Isabella II, and was sworn in the following year. Amadeo's reign was fraught with growing republicanism, Carlist rebellions in the north, and the Cuban independence movement. He abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the First Spanish Republic was declared as a result.  | Wikipedia CC-BY-SA


During the remaining part of the 19th century, Andalucia's economy suffered the direct effect of loss of trade with, and independence for, the South American colonies, ending with Cuban independence in 1898. A further blow came from the phylloxera plague which destroyed many vineyards.

This was the Romantic period, when American writer Washington Irving lived in the Alhambra, and published his Tales of the Alhambra. British aristocrat Richard Ford wrote about his experiences of living in Seville and travelling around Andalucia; unusually, he was accepted by Seville high society. French writer Merimee published his short story Carmen, about the immortal gypsy cigarette-maker from the city.



Important buildings from this period include Seville's Tobacco Factory, and baroque buildings in Ecija and Osuna.